PAUL DIXON has set his Guildford Flames an onerous target for the new campaign: win every game.

The 35-year-old is entering his second season as player-coach at Spectrum, having secured the English Premier League title at the first attempt.

And Dixon is in determined mood ahead of Saturday’s EPL Cup opener against Bracknell Bees.

“Every game we play in, we want to win,” he said.

“Last year our target was to take one of the three trophies up for grabs and this year - wanting to win every game - we obviously hope it will lead to some silverware.”

Despite last season’s EPL title, Dixon reckoned the disappointment of losing in the play-offs, with Flames going out at the semi-final stage to Milton Keynes, was a major motivation.

He explained: “The league title is very important - to win it you have to be consistently the best team over the year.

“But we’ve had a lot of bad luck in the play-offs in the past few seasons and I think that for a lot of the guys - and from my point of view as well - that’s something we really want to try to do well in this year.”

They will do so without the services of Slovakian forward Jozef Kohut, the 33-year-old having rejected a new contract.

Only three players in the history of the Flames have scored more goals, Kohut finishing with 188 from just under 250 games, along with 342 points.

Dixon admitted the club would miss such a prolific scorer but is confident that the men replacing him, including last season’s Canadian signing Taras Foremsky, were capable of filling the void.

“For sure we will miss him, given what he has done for the Flames over the years,” he said.

“Any team would but I’m confident that we’ve replaced him, and I’m excited about the players we’ve got coming up.”

Two players who will hopefully fulfil their potential are the 17-year-olds Matt Hepburn and Stephen Lee.

“Stephen is just starting out but it shows that he’s involved with the Great Britain team already. And on the other hand, Mark is a more physical type of player,” Dixon said.

“We haven’t made that many changes, only two or three, but I’m confident we are stronger."

And turning his attentions to Bracknell Bees, last season’s Premier League Cup champions, Dixon joked: “It’s a nice easy start. They look very strong, and we know about the Guildford-Bracknell rivalry.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s the first game of the year but it will be a great test for us.”